If Israel goes ahead and annexes any occupied Palestinian territory, then all agreements signed with it will be cancelled, said Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, reported Wafa News Agency.

“I want to tell you here that if the Israeli government begins annexation, whether in the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the settlements or in the Jordan Valley, we consider ourselves absolved of all the agreements we signed with them and with the American administration because it is the one who brought the deal of the century, they are the ones who motivated the Israelis to carry on the annexation, and they are the ones who pushed them into this matter. They cannot tell us that they have nothing to do with it and that it is an Israel decision,” President Abbas told a meeting for Fatah Central Committee held in Ramallah last night.

“The deal of the century came from the Americans. They talked about it in more than one occasion. All officials, including the Secretary of State and others, said that this deal will be implemented. We will not wait for its implementation. The minute this is done, we will be absolved of all the agreements we have signed and which we were fully committed to without exception,” he told his top Fatah members, calling on them to decide on this matter “so that we will start implementing this decision.”

President Abbas stressed that on the 72nd anniversary of the Palestinian dispersion, known as nakba or catastrophe, the number of Palestinians who became refugees on May 15, 1948 after Israel was created in Palestine was 950,000 and not any less than that as claimed by Israel or the US since every Palestinian who has left his home even to go to another home in the same country is considered a refugee, and not only those who left Palestine to other countries.

The Fatah Central Committee said in a statement issued following its meeting that it fully stands behind President Abbas in his international efforts to stop Israel from annexing Palestinian territory and with his position to cancel all agreements if the annexation does take place.

It warned that if Israel goes ahead with the annexation, “it will destroy any chance of achieving a just and comprehensive peace based on United Nations resolutions,” and that “there will be Palestinian steps to hold the (Israeli) occupation fully responsible for ending the entire political process.”